


A Simple Touch

by charliechick117



Category: The Hobbit (2012)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-26
Updated: 2013-02-26
Packaged: 2017-12-03 16:27:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/700300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charliechick117/pseuds/charliechick117
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was an accident.  Dori never meant to hurt anybody.  It wasn't his fault he was so much stronger than all the others.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Simple Touch

**Author's Note:**

> This follows the same lines as the poem "Dangers" (chapter 28 of The Hobbit Poems) only in story format.

"It was an accident!" Dori cried as he was dragged before Thror by his ear.  "I didn't mean to!"

"What you did or did not mean to do matters very little here," the guard growled, tugging Dori harder.

Dori winced.  Dwarf ears were sensitive, after all.  He made no other move to escape the guard.  It would be worse off for him to run away than to stand and accept his punishment with grace.  Even if it really was an accident.  He wasn't sure what happened.  He was on the training field, practicing with wooden swords with Oin and Gloin.  He remembered swinging down.  Gloin blocked.  Then there was the sound of shattering wood and Gloin was on the ground, a lump on his head and unconcious.

He was pushed onto the stone floor before Thror.  The King under the Mountain was resplendent in his robes, the gems and beads in his beard glimmering proudly.  To his left stood Thrain, his son, and Thorin was on his right.  Thorin wasn't that much older that Dori, only thirty or so years, yet he looked majestic in his midnight blue tunic and mithril beads in his hair.  Dori was in the ratty clothes that had so many patches he wasn't sure what color they were originally.

"Who is this?" Thror demanded in his booming voice.

"Dori, son of Nin," the guard said.

A great sigh went out from all the dwarves present.  This was hardly the first time Dori was dragged before the king.

"What has he done this time?" Thror leaned back in his throne, unamused with the whole proceeding.

"He has seriously injured Gloin, son of Groin," the guard said.

"It was an accident, your majesty!" Dori pleaded, bending until his forehead was on the floor.  "I offer my apologies, Thror, King under the Mountain.  It will never happen again."

"This was not your first offense," Thror said.  "Had it been I would be more forgiving.  As it stand, you have now injured six young dwarves while on the training fields."

"I don't mean to," Dori cried from the floor, not risking a glance upwards.  "Please, your majesty, please don't punish me again."

"This isn't a punishment," Thror said gently.  "This is for your benefit as well as the benefit of all those around you."

Dori risked lifting his head the tiniest bit.  Thror was leaning forward on his throne slightly, hands folded in front of him.  Thrain and Thorin looked at him oddly.  The guard next to Dori was looking at the king with open shock.

"Tomorrow you will be training with the soldiers," Thror said firmly.  "You will learn of your strength and you will keep it at bay."

"Yes, your majesty," Dori bowed again.

The guard picked Dori up and shoved him from the great hall.  Dori sighed with relief as the doors shut behind him.  He wiped at his eyes and ran up to the infirmary where Gloin and Oin were waiting.  Dori would have to think of another story to tell little Nori for why he was home late.  He hated having to do that to his brother.  Nori was still so young and impressionable and Dori knocking out anyone he touched wasn't going to help.  Ever since their father ran off, Nori had no one but Dori to look up to.  A heavy weight that Dori didn't like carrying.

He pushed the door open to the little infirmary and crept to Gloin's bed.  Oin was standing by, dabbing his brother's head with a thick paste.

"Is he going to be okay?" Dori asked, sitting in a chair.

"He might not remember it," Oin said.  "And he probably won't think straight for a few days.  But he'll live."

"I'm sorry," Dori looked down at his hands, tangled up in his shirt.

"I know," Oin said softly.

They sat in silence.  Dori shifted in his chair slightly.  Oin was looking down at Gloin, occasionally glancing at the door.  Never once did his eyes cross Dori's face.

"I won't be in training tomorrow," Oin said suddenly.  "I don't want to- I mean- I'm going to be the new apprentice here."

"Oh.  Congratulations."

Oin hummed and continued to gently dab the paste onto Gloin's head.  Dori wrung his hands tight into his shirt.  He honestly hadn't meant to hurt Gloin or any of the others.  They just weren't as strong as him.  He really didn't mean to.

"Thror said I was to train with the soldiers tomorrow," Dori whispered.  "So I don't hurt anyone."

"Good," Oin said shortly.  "When Gloin wakes up he's going to learn to fight with axes and I'll be a doctor and all this will go away."

"Oin," Dori stood up, "I am really sorry."

"You keep saying that," Oin set the jar of paste on the table, a little more forcefully than necessary.  He finally looked at Dori and his eyes were as hard as stone.  "Are you really sorry, Dori?  Because you keep hurting people around you."

"I don't-"

"It doesn't matter if you mean to or not!" Oin cut him off.  "If you had hit just a little bit harder, or hit his neck or chest, you would have killed him, Dori.  Do you understand that?!  You almost killed my brother!  You think that apologizing would make it all better?"

Dori froze.  Had he really almost killed Gloin?  He didn't think he had swung that hard and Gloin was a strong dwarf.

"Oin," Dori's voice broke.

"Just... go."

"But..."

"Go away, Dori."

Unable to ignore the command, Dori nodded, his throat closing.  He spun on his heel and left the infirmary.

* * *

Dori worked hard with the soldiers for years.  No matter how hard he hit, he couldn't hurt them.  They sparred with him and taught him how to hold back his strength, how to keep it in check and stop it from destroying everything he touched.  It only grew more important that Dori be gentle when his mother brought little Ori into the world.  There were too many nights where Dori woke up in a cold sweat.  Images of little Ori crushed beneath his hands.  The idea, the knowledge, that Dori only had to lessen his control a tiny bit to hurt his brother killed him.  Dori couldn't, wouldn't, stand for that.

After the dragon, after moving to Ered Luin with nothing, after finding Nori's collection of stolen goods, Dori was done with fighting.  Instead of training, he learned every delicate art the dwarves had to offer.  He knitted, embroidered, and made tea.  He learned his manners and taught them to little Ori and tried not to think about how spectacularly he failed Nori.  Dori was dainty and proper.  He was harmless.

"You're lying!" Ori squealed.

Dori paused outside Ori's door, listening as Nori tucked him to bed.  He frowned.  He and Nori had an enormous row the night before, ending with Dori kicking his brother from the house.  He even changed the locks on the doors and windows to keep him out.  Dori peeked inside.  The window was open, unlocked (the sneaky thief) and Nori was sitting on the stool by Ori's bed.

"I am not!" Nori looked offended.  "It's the honest truth.  Dori is the strongest dwarf in all of Ered Luin."

"He can't be!" Ori argued, lower lip sticking out.  "If Dori was the strongest then he'd be in the army.  He wouldn't be making tea and knitting me socks."

"He doesn't like it," Nori said.

"Why not?" Ori put his hands on Nori's.  "Why doesn't Dori like being strong?  Strong is good, isn't it?  Fili always talk about how strong he's gonna be and how strong his uncle is.  Isn't it a good thing?"

"Not always," Nori pressed a soft kiss on Ori's hands.  "Not when it hurts those you love most."

Nori pulled the covers over Ori, placed a gentle kiss on his forehead and jumped through the window.  Dori stood in the doorway, half concealed by shadow.  He didn't bother stemming the tears that came.  He let them fall hard and fast and thick over his face.  He had been trying to be a good big brother to Ori.  One who was safe and gentle and proper and it wasn't enough for little Ori who dreamed of adventure and would like nothing more than to follow Nori into the darkness.

Looking down at his hands, Dori cried.  It seemed he was doomed to destroy everything he touched.  Even when he didn't mean to.


End file.
